So, Drasaitl, one of the first men in here when it comes to providing offence with his 54 points, will find his way to San Jose as one of the Last Men In NHL fan vote. He’s the Pac-8 division addition over defenceman and Calgary Flames captain Mark Giordano, a strong contender for the Norris trophy who certainly deserves it too. The other division inclusions are Colorado’s Gabe Landeskog in the Central, Buffalo’s Jeff Skinner in the Adams and Pittsburgh’s Kris Letang in the Metropolitan.

And it was quite the campaign from McDavid, who has 66 points and wanted his left-wing linemate, when he’s not the Oilers No. 2 centre, there with him. And his followers listened up.

“Yeah, looked like it,” smiled Draisaitl, of his first all-star game with a three-on-three format and skills contest. “The fans played a big part in this and I have to thank them. It’s cool to be around the best players in the world and to have somebody there I’m familiar with.”

In a three-on-three where he routinely dazzles with McDavid, Draisaitl will also be out there with rivals, such as Erik Karlsson and Brent Burns with the Sharks, and down the road, Johhny Gaudreau. Draisaitl will be checking his animosity at the door in San Jose.

“I think guys are all pros in this league,” he said. “There’s a lot of guys who are a pain in the butt on the ice but once you get to meet them, they’re usually the nicest guys.

“Even those guys from Calgary, as much as I dislike them when I go against them.”

Draisaitl will do whatever he’s told in the skills competition. He’s not lobbying for anything special, except to watch the race around the rink in San Jose.

What the all-star nod means for Draisaitl is acceptance. He may be in McDavid’s orbit as a threat with his 54 points, 12th best in the NHL, figuring in 45 per cent of the Oilers’ goals, but McDavid casts a very large shadow for everybody because he’s the most exciting player in the world.

“I think this is a stepping stone for me, establishing myself as a guy who produces year in and year out,” said Draisaitl. “Obviously, there’s ups and downs throughout a season and career, something I’ve experienced, but so far it’s been a good year.”

Draisaitl is on pace for 101 points this season.

“He’s been put in a position to play with Connor but he’s also played a lot with his own line,” said Oilers winger Milan Lucic. “In the third period (against Florida), he was challenged to take on (Sasha) Barkov’s line to shut them down and then he makes the big play on the six-on-five goal.”

Oilers goalie Cam Talbot acknowledged McDavid’s Twitter account assist, but: “Leon’s play on the ice helped him too. We all felt he deserved to be there, nice to get that recognition.

“I don’t think Leon has hit his ceiling yet. Once he can separate and run his own line, then he’ll have a bit better match ups than the ones around Connor. You see how he did two years ago in the playoffs when (Ryan) Kesler was shadowing Connor and he took over in the second round against (Ryan) Getzlaf.”

McDavid gets all the hype here, which is good and bad for Draisaitl. There is less pressure on him, but he would be a star on many Stanley Cup contenders as their No. 1 centre.

“I think you can look at it both ways. Some guys want to fly under the radar and go about their business, quietly putting up points,” said Talbot.

Hitchcock saw Draisaitl as an opposing coach for a long time, but close up, he has a better feel for him.

“He’s a task-oriented player. If you give him a job and give him a specific role in a game then I think it makes him even better,” he said. “The more tasks we give Leon, the better he is. He’s obviously a really good 200-foot player and as you saw last night, one of Florida’s players (Barkov) was outplaying us pretty badly and we made the change.”

Barkov was racking up face-off wins, but Draisaitl neutralized him there after moving to centre.

The dying-seconds pass to McDavid to save the Oilers Thursday was typical Draisaitl, threading a feed to the captain through some bodies.

“Connor made a nice play, moving backwards a bit, which helped the angle of the pass for me,” said Draisaitl, who had a shot chance, himself. “The chances of me scoring from there? Not very high.”

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